


New Skin for the Old Ceremony

by al-the-remix (only_blue)



Series: Mpreg Works [3]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Breeding, Established Relationship, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Retirement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:35:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25227667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/only_blue/pseuds/al-the-remix
Summary: Zhenya dragged their jaws together, planting himself face first into the nook behind Sid’s ear, taking a deep, indulgent breath. Sid wasn't wrong: it had been a long time since he’d had his last heat. Between retirement and travel, they had just been too busy to notice.
Relationships: Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin
Series: Mpreg Works [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744360
Comments: 22
Kudos: 194





	New Skin for the Old Ceremony

**Author's Note:**

> 50% smut
> 
> Thanks to sevenfists for betaing!

“Don’t start worry before anything happens,” was what Zhenya had said to Sid that morning on the ride to the doctor’s office.

“I’m not worrying, I’m just saying it’s a valid concern,” Sid countered.

The car was insulated with silence the rest of the drive there. They had been having this same argument for a little bit over a month now. Zhenya didn’t like to think about it as an argument; he preferred a “difference in perspectives.” He never thought telling Sid he _“wasn’t that old”_ would garner him the silent treatment. Zhenya thought that one had been a compliment.

Sid parked the car a few spaces away from the cluster of others. He switched the ignition off but didn’t make any attempts to get out of the car. Zhenya felt like Sid was waiting for him to say something, but every time he tried he got in trouble.

“It will all be fine,” Zhenya reassured.

“You don’t know that,” Sid said in a low voice.

With a sigh, Zhenya reached over and rested his hand on the back of Sid’s neck, his palm pressed to the warm, slightly raised skin of his claim mark. Sid pressed back into the touch and that was better than anything else that could be said anyway.

He wasn’t going to repeat what he’d said again for the nth time. It didn’t matter how many times he reminded Sid of the options: adoption, surrogacy, meds, whatever it was, they had time and money by the fistful these days. Sid already knew all that.

If you had told Zhenya on his draft day that in 22 years he’d be sitting in his car with his captain, happily retired and married, waiting to see if Sid’s delayed heats would be an issue, he would have said something very rude in Russian, most likely along the lines of horses and mothers, but he couldn’t know for sure now.

They had already been in once for blood samples. Sid was used to being poked and prodded with needles but that didn’t make it any easier to watch. This time around, Zhenya sat patiently across from the doctor’s desk with Sid while they waited for him. Zhenya had never known Sid to be a worrier. In fact, he kind of relied on that characteristic to balance out his own tendencies to overthink. Maybe that had been self-centred. But once Sid had something in his head, no less was acceptable until he knew for sure. Sid wanted everything always. He wasn't too happy about being reminded of his own mortality.

When the doctor arrived, Sid listened intently while he explained the results.

“This sort of thing isn’t uncommon at your age, but your hormone levels are high enough you should still get a regular heat. It may be shorter than before, but let’s wait until you’ve had your next cycle and then we can work from there.”

All in all, the appointment was short and a little underwhelming. Not that Zhenya was about to say that. Sid had stuck around to ask about what else he could be doing in the meantime to help his heat along. He got a few print-outs that looked like they’d been pulled off a website, but Sid looked happy with them anyways.

When they got into the car, Sid paused again after buckling in. “Please, just don’t say I told you so.”

“I’d never,” Zhenya said, sincere.

Sid let out a deep gust of air. “I’m sorry we had to wait,” and maybe that had been the real issue all along: Sid was feeling guilty.

“Don’t have to say if you don’t mean.”

“Geno,” Sid said, and okay, maybe that wasn’t the best way of wording it.

He reached over and squeezed Sid’s wrist in reassurance. “It’s okay, I know if we have kids then you're not happy. But now, Sid, we still have _lots of time_.” Maybe this time Sid would actually believe him.

“Ugh, I know I know,” Sid huffed, and leaned back against the seat looking mildly embarrassed at his perceived overreaction. “I’m sorry, it just hit me all at once and I didn’t know what to do. I might have panicked, just a bit,” he admitted, which was big.

“You think you know better than doctors?” Zhenya teased lightly.

“Of course.” Sid laughed and rolled his eyes, finally starting the car. “We’ve got to stop by the superstore on the way home.”

+

Zhenya could smell it on him when it finally hit.

Sid's complex collection of calendars, supplements, and scholarly articles on athletes and pregnancy Andy kept sending him were beginning to take up every surface in the house. It was probably better this way--Sid liked to be in the know and he needed something to keep himself busy--but it didn’t stop Zhenya from fantasizing about tying Andy into a pretzel the next time they saw him.

Every night before bed and every morning without fail, Sid got Zhenya to spend a few minutes scenting him. It was hot at first, but with Sid's increased impatience as they got closer to the date of his predicted heat it was starting to feel more like a chore.

Zhenya was only half awake when he came down stairs for coffee to find Sid standing there in the kitchen, sweaty from his workout with a smoothie in one hand, and his cap shoved on backwards, no doubt plastering down his hair.

Sid passed him a cup with green sludge in it. Zhenya frowned down at it. From experience he knew it didn’t taste the worst but the texture would be gritty from all the crap Sid put in it. He chugged it with a grimace.

After he rinsed his cup, Sid offered his neck up to Zhenya without any preamble. It had become an old ritual. Zhenya bent down obediently and scented him--paused--gripped Sid tighter by the hip and brought him back in for another inhale. At first it was hard to tell apart from the smell of Sid's sweat and remnants of his deodorant. But there, distinctly, was the scent of Sid's pre-heat simmering just below the surface.

Zhenya dragged their jaws together, planting himself face first into the nook behind Sid’s ear, taking a deep, indulgent breath. Sid wasn't wrong: it had been a long time since he’d had his last heat. Between retirement and travel, they had just been too busy to notice.

“What is it?” Sid said. He didn’t ask the question specifically, but the way his voice flipped up hopefully at the end was enough to tell Zhenya everything.

“Smell good,” he said, being purposefully vague.

Sid had ditched his shake to grip Zhenya by the back of his neck and hold him there. “Like what.”

He couldn’t help but tease him a bit. “Just good.” Zhenya swiped his tongue out to lick Sid’s neck before he could dodge it. “Taste dirty.”

 _“_ G, seriously, _”_ Sid said, pushing his face away, which was all right because this way he could appreciate how Sid’s sweat-drenched shirt clung to his upper body. Images of all the other times they had gone through one of Sid’s heats together flashed through his mind.

Finally, he was going to get the opportunity to do what he had been thinking about during all those others. Zhenya was going to knock him up.

+

They still had to wait for Sid’s heat to come the rest of the way in. Zhenya had forgotten how torturous this part was. Sid wasn’t in heat yet, but he _smelt_ like he was; his skin was flushed with warmth, and unlike all those other times before, Sid smelt _ready_ \--he didn’t just want dick, he wanted a baby, and Zhenya was going to give it to him.

Zhenya swore sharply and pulled his hand away from the hot side of the kettle. Right, he was making tea.

“You should be more careful,” Sid chided, as if he wasn’t the source of all distraction, walking around the house like a neon sign flashing _“open for business.”_ “I don’t know if I can have someone so clumsy knocking me up. Not if I want my baby to be the next hero of the NHL.”

“You clumsy,” Zhenya shot back, but the infuriating smirk on Sid’s face said he knew he wasn’t.

He left the mugs of tea on the coffee table to lie sideways on the couch with his face in Sid’s lap. He couldn’t see the TV but it didn’t matter. Sid smelt so good Zhenya imagined this is what it must feel like to those people who couldn’t quit some sort of addiction: cigarettes, alcohol, drugs. For the time being, Zhenya was addicted to getting his face as close to Sid’s crotch as possible at any given moment.

Sid’s fingers knotted in his hair, fluffing it up, then patting it back down. There wasn’t too much of it left at the top but Sid didn’t seem to care judging by how often his hands ended up on Zhenya’s head, just touching.

“Are you drooling on me?” Sid asked, snapping him out of it. Zhenya had been drifting, somewhere between asleep and awake, nose pressed to the crease of Sid’s hip and thigh--and yes, he was drooling, Zhenya realized when he lifted his head enough to discover a wet spot. His hindbrain said _“slick”_ at the sight even though he knew better.

Sid wiped his wet cheek with the back of his hand. “You want a taste?” Sid snickered, tugging lightly at Zhenya’s hair, and Zhenya groaned out his misery into Sid’s lap.

“Pass me my tea,” Zhenya said finally and righted himself.

Zhenya watched Sid out of the corner of his eye and found that Sid had let his face go soft and blurry on purpose, watching Zhenya with half-lidded eyes and tilting his head back against the couch so that the curve of his neck was on display.

“Stop that,” Zhenya snapped, weak for it, and Sid pulled his head back up, smiling wickedly into the rim of his mug.

That night Zhenya fell asleep with his nose pressed to that same curve and Sid purring almost soundlessly against him.

+

Zhenya woke up in a soft bed with an even softer mouth around his cock, sucking at him intently. When he finally cracked his eyes open, it was still dark in the room. Zhenya grasped for the remote, filling the room with warm overhead light. He reached down and wove his fingers into the long curls at the top of Sid’s head, making him moan around his mouthful. Sid sank lower, the soft heat of his mouth sending shivers up and down Zhenya's spine.

"Sid," Zhenya rasped, tugging gently at Sid’s hair. His groin felt damp with spit; who knew how long Sid had been under there, nursing at his cock before Zhenya had woken up. He could smell Sid’s heat in the back of his throat, sweet like spun sugar that got stuck to the roof of your mouth. It was so strong Zhenya could taste it--what had been faint last night was now in full bloom.

He gave Sid another tug, encouraging him to pull off. "Bunny, if you keep doing that I'm going to come." Zhenya felt like during his heat was one of the only times Sid let him get away with pet names easily. Normally there was some kind of protest even though he knew Sid liked it--baby, sweetheart, the last time Zhenya had called him _bunny_ Sid had made a sound like he might just die.

Zhenya shivered when Sid gave one last long suck. The soft pop of his lips when he finally let Zhenya’s cock slip from his mouth was obscene. Zhenya pushed the sheets back so he could get a better look at him: Sid had his cheek pillowed on Zhenya's thigh--he looked gone--glassy-eyed and pink across the bridge of his nose.

“You’re too good,” Zhenya cooed, and combed his fingers through the grey hairs at Sid’s temple. Sid smiled up at him, lopsided and a little goofy, and Zhenya felt that wave of affection overtake him. _His Sid_. Zhenya smoothed his thumb over the crow’s feet at the corner of Sid’s eye. "Come here."

Sid crawled up so his warm bulky weight was settled over him. Zhenya stroked down Sid’s broad back, following his spine. His skin was a little damp with sweat from being under the covers and Zhenya pressed his lips to Sid’s sweet mouth, red and puffy from being wrapped around his dick. When Zhenya licked into him, Sid tasted like he had been at it for a while.

Zhenya planted kisses over his jaw and felt Sid hum to life underneath his mouth. Sucking a kiss to the corner, Zhenya nuzzled in beside his ear, scenting. "Don't you want me to come in your pussy?"

Sid let out a yearning coo and ground down against Zhenya's lap, his eyes heavy-lidded. Zhenya could feel how slick he was already, dragging himself over Zhenya's cock. Zhenya reached down to hold himself steady, finding where Sid was soft and wet and open, and pressing himself there so Sid could wiggle down onto his cock with a little content sigh.

Zhenya gripped Sid's hips. They were such nice handfuls. He looked full and healthy. _Fertile_ \-- Zhenya’s brain corrected. Sid smelt so ripe Zhenya was dizzy with it. Once again Zhenya didn't understand why Sid had been so worried. He smelt like an omega ready to be bred. _Zhenya's_ omega, his sweet cunt clutching at Zhenya so tightly.

"Are you going to make me a baby?" Sid’s mouth was open, panting as he rocked himself intently back on Zhenya's cock. Taking what he needed. He was so slick that the hair at the base of Zhenya’s cock was wet and matted.

 _"Yeah,"_ Zhenya drawled dumbly, squeezing at Sid's soft sides. He was just as out of it as Sid at this point; it was impossible not to be when he got to watch Sid like this. Watch him take what he wanted from Zhenya's dick. He knew he was making his omega happy by the little huffs and small sounds of smug pleasure as Sid rolled his hips in circles.

Sid needed more, working himself on Zhenya's cock with the kind of impatience and single-minded determination he'd come to expect from Sid, no matter what he was doing. Speeding up, Sid braced himself and pinched his eyes shut with a whine, and Zhenya watched the sticky head of his dick slap against the soft skin under his belly button, his balls drawn up tight from anticipation.

Zhenya could feel the muscles in Sid’s thighs work, see them stand out in his arms from how he braced himself. Sid was thicker around the middle than he'd ever been before, and Zhenya worked to try and meet Sid’s thrusts under Sid's weight, grinding into him, but it was near impossible. All he could do was lie there, pinned, and watch Sid bounce on his cock until he made a plaintive noise of displeasure when Zhenya slipped out of him on an uneven thrust.

Sid was a sweet, slippery mess in his own slick as he tried to reseat himself. "Sid, come on, up," Zhenya said, and guided Sid with some difficulty out of his lap and onto the mattress beside him.

Zhenya settled them so Sid was on his back, knees curled up and open, ready. Caressing a line from Sid’s chest down to his stomach, Zhenya took a moment just to admire him. Sid was flushed pink and plump-looking, muscles padded with the soft signs of age. He thought about all those times he’d yearned to do this when they were younger, but now, looking at him, Zhenya didn’t want this any other way.

Pressing the backs of Sid’s knees to his chest, Zhenya slipped into him. There was barely any resistance, Sid was so easy for it. Ready to be knotted and fucked full. It wasn't fair of Zhenya to keep him waiting like that. He pressed in slow so Sid felt every inch of it, stretched around his cock.

He kept the rock of his hips slow and purposeful, feeling that hot, tight pressure build at the base of his cock. He’d have to knot soon, but first he wanted to get Sid off. It was fun to watch him at this angle; sometimes he got this look on his face like the first time, like he couldn’t actually believe he was being penetrated.

There was an insistent touch to his stomach and Zhenya blinked, realizing he had zoned out trying not to come too soon. Sid had gotten his feet planted on the bed, meeting Zhenya’s thrusts with the impatient roll of his hips, his fingers digging into Zhenya's stomach.

“You need it harder?” Zhenya asked, and got a good enough grip on Sid’s hips to lift him into his thrusts. The sound of skin on skin was loud now, taking over the encouraging noises Sid was making under him. He felt it coming as soon as Sid’s body tensed and his stomach fluttered, right on the brink.

"Gonna put a baby in you." Zhenya growled, and Sid went tight around him, cock flexing as he came with a low moan, his thighs digging into Zhenya's sides.

Zhenya shoved in deep and bent over him to nose out his claim mark, sucking on the skin and keeping their hips pressed close together as Sid rode out his orgasm.

When the last tremor had been wrung from his body, Zhenya pulled away. “Roll over. On your belly,” he instructed, and was filled with a predatory satisfaction when Sid did what he was told, a rare occurrence. Sid’s cock still looked half hard between his thighs, flushed and dripping like overripe fruit.

Zhenya thrust back inside and rutted, mouthing mindlessly at the base of Sid’s neck. He was so open and slick from coming once already, practically welcoming Zhenya inside.

“Breed me—“ Sid choked out, and it barely took any pressure for Zhenya to sink his knot in when he came, Sid was so easy for it.

Zhenya shoved in as deep as he could and worked his hips in a grind as he continued to unload into Sid, his _mate—_

Sid began to squirm underneath him after a while when he plastered himself against Sid’s back, latching his mouth to Sid’s neck, over the claim mark, and biting down.

“Hey, bud,” Sid complained, smacking him in the face by mistake with the back of his hand— _maybe not totally by mistake_ —and carefully Zhenya helped Sid get his knees up under him so Sid could rub himself off on Zhenya's knot.

Sid was working himself up fast. Zhenya could feel it as he slowly tightened. A blush spread pink all the way down to Sid’s ass, and he clutched down and shuddered through it before sagging against the bed. Zhenya watched the come leak out of his hole and bent over to kiss the back of his neck once again before finding his mouth.

He loved kissing Sid when he was like this, soft and overheated, satisfied, with the slick sounds of their mouths moving together. It felt like the most indulgent thing when slowly Sid began to purr.

+

When Zhenya woke they were still locked loosely together. Early morning light barely filtered through the curtains. He untangled their bodies gingerly, wincing when he pulled himself from the clasp of Sid's body, and stumbled blindly into the bathroom to pee.

He didn't flush, not wanting to wake Sid, but he was already awake when Zhenya got back to bed, goofy satisfied smile on his face as he stretched indulgently, belly up.

Zhenya skimmed his hand up over the arch of Sid's stomach. "Good?" Zhenya asked. He'd get Sid off again if he needed it but really he was just ready to sleep. Sid would have plenty of time to wring him for what he was worth tomorrow.

Sid nodded against the pillow. "For now," he said, and Zhenya touched the tip of his nose to Sid's shoulder. He smelt sated. Zhenya's fingers lingered on his stomach, chipping away with his nail at a crusty droplet still stuck to Sid's skin.

"Smell anything different?"

Zhenya shook his head. It was impossible to tell anyway, and would be for a while yet.

"Hey," Sid called softly, and Zhenya looked up to meet his eyes even though he could barely make them out in the darkness. "You know I'm okay, right? If this doesn't work."

Zhenya hadn't known that. He'd figured probably, but he hadn't known for sure. Sid did that thing again when he fluffed Zhenya's hair up and flattened it back down, like a soothing motion. Zhenya had an inkling it was more for Sid's than his own benefit.

"I just, I wanted my chance to get to try, you know? After waiting so long. So when I thought I'd missed it--" Sid took a deep breath and held it. Zhenya needed no further explanation.

"Good to hear," he said instead, and caught Sid's hand in his own, pulling it away from the bird's nest it was making out of his hair to kiss Sid’s palm and place it over Sid's own stomach, curling his hand over his.

"You're so cheesy," Sid huffed out, but he sounded pleased.

"Biggest cheese," Zhenya agreed, digging his pinky finger into Sid's belly button to make him jolt and squirm.

It was his own fault then when Sid flipped over on top of him, plastering Zhenya down and sighing like he was getting comfortable. They could lie like this for a little bit, Zhenya thought to himself, and wrapped his arms around Sid's core. He could feel Sid's big nose weaselling out the scent gland in the crook of his neck and resigned himself to waking up in the morning flattened like a pancake.


End file.
